


enough

by audrenes



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Communication, Humor, Humor to Cope, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Angst, Post-Canon, Sudden Life Change, fast forward, mild politics, optimistic outlook of the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23160511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audrenes/pseuds/audrenes
Summary: Galo does the impossible and considers quitting Burning Rescue.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 10
Kudos: 87





	1. skipping stones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like fandom consensus on post-canon headcanons but i also wanted to dish out a hot take
> 
> as a treat.
> 
> enjoy!! :^)

It’s the end of the day after another long shift at Burning Rescue when Galo and Lio are walking home. The air is particularly crisp that evening, and while Lio has gotten somewhat used to the winters without his fire, thanks to a multitude of sweaters layered underneath his coat, it doesn’t change the fact that the air still snaps at him.

Normally, he’d just bury his face in the bundle of his scarf, but ever since Galo pushed him to invest in getting glasses after he failed to read the exit signs on their road trip during the summer, he’s had to suffer through the cold, else he’d fog up his glasses. Meis suggested getting contacts the next time he’d see his optometrist, but Lio grumbled at the thought.

For one thing, he had a bad habit of sleeping with his glasses on. If he did the same thing with contacts, his vision would just take a nosedive. For another, he wasn’t particularly fond of the thought of poking his eye in order to see. The new look also grew on him.

Things were getting to a sort of normalcy for him. He did three years of community service with Burning Rescue and stayed on board because he liked the work that came out of it. He still did his part in helping ensure the Burnish were given basic human rights in the government, getting help from Remi and Varys to read up on the dense legalise. He, Aina, Meis, and Lucia all planned to go to the roller derby that week to let off some steam, with the rest of the team cheering them on from the stands. He considered going into politics, but honestly, Lio did not have the patience to play ringleader in the circus act. He did have respect to Eirini, who took the reins of Burnish integration from him.

Honestly? He was perfectly content with the ways things were.

He was living a life he never expected to have, and he had nothing to really complain about that.

Glancing at Galo, he smiled to himself, thinking about his partner. For the years they spent together, Galo’s soul never stopped burning, lighting the flames to a new path. He unintentionally became the face of reconstruction and reintegration of Neo Promepolis. If the people really wanted to, he would’ve been elected as the emerging city’s new leader.

Not that he’d actually take it up, of course.

Galo may have been impulsive and honest to a fault, but Lio learned how insightful and determined he was. If he really wanted to, Galo could’ve accepted the role given to him and become Neo Promepolis’ new leader. But if there was anything that Lio knew, is that Galo loved his job and being a firefighter. There wasn’t one day where the man didn’t proclaim his love of Matoi or how much his soul burned, so while Lio would have loved to see Galo in city hall with the same exuberance he displayed in Burning Rescue, he knew it would never happen.

“Lio.”

“Mm.”

“I think I’m gonna quit. Quit firefighting.”

Lio squints at him. “Haha, nice joke, Galo. Is this a bit or something? You lose a bet to Gueira or Lucia? _Remi?”_

Lio scoffs a laugh at voicing Remi’s name. He was going to be so pissed once he found out that Lio mixed up the pen cartridges at his desk. Which was good, considering Remi ate the leftovers Lio marked. None of Burning Rescue quite got the tension between them, which was fine so long as no one else got involved if they didn’t want to.

“It ain’t a bet. I ain’t joking either.”

Lio stops in his tracks.

“What,” Galo stops and turns to face him. “Why.”

“I--” Galo sighs and hangs his head. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Galo--” Lio begins to reach out to him, but Galo turns and dashes away.

_“Galo!”_

Lio grumbles and picks up his pace to catch up to him. If there was ever a time he regretted not joining Galo on his ungodly early morning runs, this would be it. By the time Lio reached their apartment complex, Galo was already pulling out of the lot.

“Galo Thymos, what the hell, don’t just run off on me like that! We agreed that we’d--”

The engine is loud between them, and they both knew full well that Galo could’ve just ignored him and sped off into the distance.

But Galo wasn’t like that.

He flips the visor of his helmet up.

“Sorry Lio, I just-- I need to go be alone for a little bit.”

“I--” Lio presses his lips together, wanting nothing else than to pull Galo off his bike and actually talk to him. But he’d been in his shoes before. Where talking wasn’t an option he wanted to take and all he wanted to do was storm off into the desert and set something on fire. So, Lio relents. “Okay. But we are talking about this when you get back.”

Galo offers a sympathetic glance that held no promises, pulled into the road, and drove into the night.

_Okay._ Cool. Cool, cool, cool, _cool._

Lio had stood in the driveway alone for a few minutes, allowing the effects of the conversation to sink in. His boyfriend of the past five years had just drove off into the night after dropping an information bomb on him, one of which was completely out of left field and out of character for him.

Lio had to do something.

He opened up his phone and called the three best people he knew to help him with the situation.

“Hey-o, boss-i-o.”

It takes no more than ten minutes for his ragtag team to meet up and show up at his door and upon hearing the familiar voice, he buzzes them in.

“Okay, so what’s up, boss? What’s the hot goss?” Lucia says when the door swings open, with Gueira and Aina behind her.

Lio’s mouth opens, ready to question why she’s picked up on Meis and Gueira’s nickname of calling him boss, but he decides that he has neither the time nor energy to argue with her on that.

Lucia’s shoulders drop at the lack of protest from him. “Not telling me to stop calling you boss, huh? Is this serious?”

“Yeah, are you good, Lio?” Aina asks. “Should we get Galo too?”

Gueria cranes his head around their apartment. “Where is that fucker, by the way?”

“He’s not here,” Lio says, his voice cracking slightly. It seemed to be enough to set off the sirens for the three.

“Oh crap, do we need to look for him?” Lucia starts to fish through her pockets. “I had him test a tracker the other day, and it should still be working if he hasn’t taken a shit--”

Aina frowns. “What? _Gross!_ Lucia, what did you need that type of tracker for?”

_“Don’t worry about it.”_

“Unless this is about Galo? Do I need to do something for ya boss, ‘cause,” Gueira leans close and starts to whisper to Lio. “I know me and Galo are bros now, but like, you’re still a rank higher.”

“Hey! We can hear you!” Lucia shouts, stopping her pocket rummaging.

“We aren’t gonna help you kill Galo,” Aina scolds. “We’ll give him a stern talking to, but no killing.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t let you do that anyway,” Lio says.

“I was being figurative!”

Lucia stares at Gueira. “No you weren’t.”

“Okay, you’re right, I wasn’t, but I wasn’t actually gonna do it!”

The three of them quickly spiral into an argument, which normally, Lio would just resign to his seat on the couch as they sorted it out, but this was a pretty dire situation.

_**“Galo’s gonna quit Burning Rescue!”** _

They stop and look at Lio.

And laugh.

“Good one, Lio!” Aina starts.

“Mr. Number One Firefighting Idiot With A Burning Soul? _Quit?”_ Gueira leans on Lucia for support. He even slaps his knee.

Lucia shakes Gueira’s shoulders, speaking before shrieking in laughter. “I’m working on new gear for him, that he asked for! Like he’d quit!”

They continued for a few moments, but grew silent as Lio stared them down.

“Aha...haha… Lio, c’mon man, where’s the sike?” Lucia asks.

Guiera stands up. “Who put you up to this? Meis? _Remi?_ Are you guys doing another convoluted thing in your prank war or something?”

“I’m serious.”

“Okay, wait, hold on, hold on. Is this like, something you have a hunch on, or did Galo really say--”

Lio interrupts Aina. “He literally said, and I quote-- ‘I think I’m gonna quit. Quit firefighting.’ And then when I asked why, he just ran away.”

Lio takes a deep breath and walks to the fridge, opens the freezer door, and takes out a pint of ice cream.

Aina, Lucia, and Gueira look at each other.

“Hey boss, isn’t that, _uh?”_ Gueira coughs, watching Lio rummaging through the silverware for a spoon. “Aren’t you lactose intolerant?”

Lio pops the lid open, rips the protective film off, and stabs into it before chomping the scoop down. “Yeah, and?”

“Oookay,” Aina says, walking up to Lio and guiding him down to the couch to sit down. “Obviously, this isn’t a ‘haha, I don’t care that I’m suddenly lactose intolerant now because I love dairy’ situation and more of a, ‘I know this thing is gonna fuck up my stomach and I don’t care because I’m spiraling’ situation, so please. Just sit.”

“I… I don’t know what to do,” Lio confesses. “Usually, we’d just talk about it, but he just. Stormed off, no explanation. Just that he needed to be alone, which is _fine,_ but _this isn’t like him. **I’m**_ usually the one who storms off because ** _I’m_ **the one who doesn’t know how to deal with this properly. Galo is usually the one who has it together, even when he’s the one in a spiral, so this is just--”

Lio takes a big scoop and horks it down. He can feel the brain freeze, his stomach grumbling, and his regret set in.

“I want to help him, but I don’t know how.”

“So why’d ya call _us_ over?” Lucia asks. Aina and Gueira glance at her, like she just said something that she wasn't supposed to. _“What?_ I’m curious! ‘Cause I’m sure as hell not one to give out advice! At least good ones. Like, bro, I wanna help you, but I’m not the person for that!”

“You three spend the most time with him, other than me. I just wanted to know if you knew at least why he wouldn’t just _tell_ me.”

It’s uncomfortably silent for a few moments. Aina seems to have known the answer as soon as Lio asked it, but was having trouble forming the right wording for it. Guiera appears to have a good guess, but was holding back on the chance that he was wrong and unintentionally make the situation worse. But, when Lucia figures it out, she spurts it out right away.

“Oh, _duh,”_ Lucia says, slapping her forehead.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know if it’s an answer you’d like, bud,” Lucia says. Lio glances at Aina, who nods, then at Gueira, who gives a more reluctant nod.

“Oh,” Lio sighs. _“Oh.”_

Despite nearly half a decade passed, it was still a touchy subject. For both of them.

“I still don’t understand,” Lio sets his ice cream and spoon down. “He _loves_ firefighting. Saving people. I don’t see how he’d-- He would’ve-- He-- It shouldn’t-- It hasn’t--”

He pauses, tripping on his words, unable to get a handle on how he wanted to express his thoughts.

Gueira puts his hand on his shoulder. “Things change, boss.”

_“I know that, but--”_

“Okay, how about this--” Aina says, realizing that this was going to send Lio into another spiral. If there’s anything she’s proud of picking up in the past few years, it’s some of Galo’s observant tendencies and his way of talking to people. “Since we can’t come up with an explanation because we aren’t Galo, and it’d be counter-productive for us to think for him, what are you going to ask him? How are you going to ask him?”

“I--” Lio leans back into the couch. “Why? What brought it up?”

“Anything else, boss?” Lucia asks, taking a seat on the arm rest next to Aina.

“Are you okay?” Lio continues. “What can I do to help you?”

“Cool,” Gueira nods. “Anything else you wanna say? Doesn’t gotta be a question.”

“Everyone’s here for you. I’m here for you.”

 _“Sick,”_ Lucia chimes.

“Do you need us to stay until Galo gets back? Do you want us to?” Aina asks.

“I would appreciate your company, but,” Lio coughs, distracting himself from how hot he felt his cheeks were getting. “I don’t know how I would feel about Galo coming back seeing the three of you here, especially after how our conversation ended.”

“Aw, embarrassed to be seen with us?” Lucia teased.

“Wait, why the three of us specifically?” Gueira asks.

“Oh my God, are we like, your Suicide Squad?” Lucia gasps. “Lio. Lio are we your Suicide Squad??”

Lio’s face scrunches. “What does that even mean?” He’s not sure he wants the answer to that question, but it’s too late to take it back now.

“Oh, haha _haha **haha,”**_ Lucia cackles. “You’re gonna find out.”

Lucia hops out of her seat, over Aina’s lap, and skitters to their small entertainment center.

“Su-i-cide-Squad! Su-i-cide-Squad!” She chants. Gueira joins in while Lio and Aina exchange a look. Aina shrugs, prompting Lio to accept his fate and reach for his ice cream. He can already tell that he won’t particularly enjoy the movie but if it was anything like Galo having him watch the CGI version of Cats, he figured that he might as well lean into the situation. Maybe his lactose intolerancy can give him an excuse to excuse himself.

Before Lucia has the chance to boot up the movie, the door starts to jiggle open.

It’s Galo.

“I’m back-- oh, uh,” Galo blinks and stares at the quartet. He glances at the screen and his face falls. “Oh, what the heck, you guys are gonna watch Suicide Squad without me? Lio-- you said you didn’t wanna watch it!”

“I still don’t,” Lio confesses. “You know Lucia has the diplomacy skills of a brick wall.”

“I have _no_ idea what you’re talking about,” Lucia says as she presses play.

Well, alright. Galo sets his things down on the countertop and takes a seat next to Gueira. Lio knew that there wasn’t an open space next to him, but still. Gueira seemed to pick up on the situation.

“Hey, I gotta piss, can you pause it?”

“Dude, you’ve watched it, like a bajillion times already,” Lucia whines. “Just pee faster!”

 _“Just pee faster,”_ Gueira mocks.

Lucia parrots it back to him, in an even more obnoxious tone. They go back and forth before Aina snaps. “Oh my God, just go pee already!”

Lucia groans. “Ugh, now I might as well start it over.”

“Hey, can you pause it, too?”

“No, fuck off!” Lucia hisses. She says that, but she doesn’t resume the movie until Gueira is out of the bathroom.

While their friends playfully argued with each other, Lio moved closer to Galo. Galo did the same until they met in the middle.

As soon as Gueira is out of the bathroom, Lucia hits play and crawls back to her spot on the arm rest next to Aina. Gueira is about to return to his seat, but sees that Galo and Lio have hogged all of the space. He’s a little betrayed, but settles on the floor between the two couches.

Lio leans into Galo’s warmth and takes another bite of his ice cream.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“So… what did you think?”

Lucia is looking at Lio expectantly now as the credits roll in the background.

He blinks at her.

“It was… interesting...” he says slowly.

Honestly, he wishes that he could’ve just skipped the past two hours all together, but he’s too tired to have any ounce of thoughts in him. All he wanted to do was go to bed and pretend like he didn’t exist for the next four or five hours.

Lucia scoffs. “So you liked _Cats_ but not _Suicide Squad?_ Psh.”

“Hey--!” Gueira starts, defensively. _“Cats_ is **_good_ ** . It was just fucked over by the stupid-ass CGI adaptation. It’s not like _Suicide Squad_ had anything good to go off of.”

Lucia looks at Gueira as if he said something blasphemous. Like, that her inventions sucked, or that her favorite comic book series wasn’t good. “There are _literally_ **_hundreds_ ** of comics!”

“Oh, I know,” Gueira huffs, crossing his arms.

She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “I see. We’ve got a _Marvel Stan_ in the house!”

“No, _fuck_ Marvel, too,” Gueira says, like he’s just saying it to rile Lucia up. He kind of is. He kind of isn’t.

“Okay, _what the fuck--”_ Aina joins in now.

Lio and Galo just stare at their friends as they continue to bicker. As they do, a familiar an unpleasant pang in Lio’s stomach hits him, and he gets up from his spot and walks past them.

“Hey, let me--” he says, struggling to get through what almost could be a fist fight between the three. “I need to take a shit! Move!”

The three of them pause, mid-fight, and let Lio past.

Galo looks at Lio’s figure as he walks away, like Lio just left him with a bomb ready to explode.

By the time Lio is out of the bathroom, it’s just Galo in the living room now.

“Huh. I half expected them to be arguing on a completely different topic once I got out,” Lio muses.

“They were about to, but Gueria had to leave for work at the body shop to meet with a client, so they just continued it as they left,” Galo says.

“What did they change the topic to?”

“Who was the hottest Chris.”

“Who was winning?”

“Psh, Chris Evans, obviously!”

Lio nods. “Good. As he should.”

Silence looms above them.

“Hey, so-- about what I said,” Galo starts. “Do you… are you up to talking about it now, or do you wanna wait until we’re more awake?”

“Well,” Lio sighs, sitting on the spot next to Galo. “Truth be told, I am _very_ tired right now. It was a long shift.”

Galo nods. 

“But,” Lio reaches for Galo’s hand. “I’m not going to be able to sleep until we talk about it. So, if you’re up to it for the night, I am.”

“Okay,” Galo squeezes Lio’s hand before he stands up. “I’mma grab the comforter, change, and then snag _my_ pint of ice cream. ‘Cause you got me craving for it. And it’s a pint of ice cream kind of night.”

  
  
  
  
  


“So.”

“So.”

“...Honestly, there’s no easy way to ease into the conversation. And _I_ don’t know where to start, so if you have any questions, I’ll answer them as best I can?” Galo scratches his head as he takes his first bite of his hazelnut ice cream.

God, Lio had _so_ many questions. He wanted to get right to it, but honestly, he was a bit scared getting answers that he wasn’t ready for. Answers that could potentially hurt Galo if he’d asked.

“Well… how long have you been feeling like quitting?”

Galo ponders over it as he stares into his pint. “A couple months.”

Lio blinks. “Really?”

“Well, at first I thought it was a fluke, ‘cause I _love_ firefighting. I still do,” Galo says. “I thought it was just the good ol’ case of imposter syndrome or something but, it’s been sticking with me.”

“Sticking with you how?”

“Like--” Galo sighs. “I _guess_ it’s _partly_ because of the imposter syndrome thing and all, ‘cause, I dunno-- I--”

Galo pauses for a few minutes, eating his ice cream in frustration before Lio reaches for his hand again. “It’s okay. You can say it.”

Galo frowns. “We’ve talked about this a bunch already, though.”

“What’s a few more times?” Lio shrugs.

The knot between the Galo’s brows fades and his shoulders drop. “A lot of who I am is because of Kray, y’know? Even though everything I thought about him was just a giant-ass lie, it still was a big part of my identity-- who I wanted to be, who I wanted to look up to, what I actually did...”

Lio sits silently, allowing Galo to voice his thoughts. Like he said, this wasn’t a new conversation between them. But, this was important to Galo. “And I know that I’m not him. But I still feel _so bad,_ y’know?”

“Is that why you want to quit?”

“Not exactly,” Galo sighs, scraping more ice cream off of the pint. “Sometimes… I just don’t feel like what I’m doing is enough. If _I’m_ enough.”

“Galo, you _are_ enough,” Lio assures him.

Galo glances at Lio and pouts. “You just say that because you love me.”

Lio offers him a smile. “Well, that’s because I _do_.”

“Thanks, firebug, but...” Galo returns it, but he dips his head down. “It’s been like, five years since _everything_ happened and yeah, some things have changed, but a lot of things are still the same. Like-- yeah, the Burnish are treated like people now, but you guys are still given a lot shit you don’t deserve!”

Lio shrugs. “It’s nothing we’re not used to. If anything, it’s not as bad as what we had to go through while we were on the run.”

“But you shouldn’t be used to it! And it shouldn’t be a problem for you guys! Not _now!_ Not when everything’s supposed to be all good now!” Galo chokes out. “If the Promare were to come back, you guys shouldn’t have to feel like you’d have to leave.”

“Galo...” Lio whispers. “We won’t. _I_ won’t. I’d make sure of it.”

“I know you won’t, I know you would, but--” Galo places the pint down. As if on cue, Lio reaches over and pulls Galo into a warm embrace, rubbing soft circles on his back. “I just feel _weird_ and _bad_. Like I’m doing nothing when it feels like I can do _something._ ”

“You _are_ doing something,” Lio reassures him. “You help people all the time, putting out fires. You save lives, Galo.”

“I _know_ , but--” Galo stops.

Lio waits for him to continue, but once he’s sure he didn’t have anything to elaborate, he speaks again. “Okay, I have another question, then.”

“Mm?”

“If not firefighting, what _do_ you want to do?”

“I dunno, I...” Galo trails off, mumbling into Lio’s shirt. For a moment, he stays there, but slowly, he pulls away and looks at Lio. 

Lio, who looks back at him with all the patience and love he had to offer, who he knew had been through hell every day of his life because of who he is. Lio, who flipped through Promepolis’ old laws, and flipped through the new ones, every time he requested grants for the Burnish. Lio, who was doing everything he could for the Burnish as the former leader of Mad Burnish, until he didn’t have to anymore when a Burnish lawyer took the reins from him.

Lio, who had never expected to have a happy life, and finally, he had it.

Lio, who had a happy life, but couldn’t fully enjoy it.

“...I wanna be the mayor.”

Lio blinks at Galo. “The mayor? Since when?”

“Since right now.”

“Galo, that’s-- you’d basically be starting from scratch!”

“I know. But you did. Every Burnish did. Why can’t I?”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t but-- that’s a big change.”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Galo smiles sheepishly.

They sit in silence for a few moments.

“It’s a stupid idea, isn’t it?” Galo says, finally.

“It certainly _is,_ ” Lio agrees. “You’ve had plenty of stupid ideas, but this may take the cake.”

More silence.

Then.

“How can I help you?” Lio asks.

Galo sits up and looks at him. “Huh?”

“What do you need me to do to make becoming mayor easier for you?” Lio asks again. “I’ve read my share of the city’s laws, but Remi’s more well versed with it. I could help you study?”

“I-- well...” Galo mumbles. “I’ve… already got some of the law stuff down? It’s been a hot minute, so I’m probably a bit rusty, so...”

“You have experience in law?” Lio asks.

Galo shrugs. “I was interested in student government for a bit.”

 _“Really,”_ Lio says, amazed. Five years with Galo, and he never fails to surprise him.

“Yeah, really. Class president, all four years of high school! You remember Eirini?”

Lio nods. Of course he did, she was at the forefront of Burnish integration now.

“She was my VP all four years, too!” Galo beams. “I helped her study for her lawyer tests while she helped me with all of my firefighting stuff after we graduated high school.”

“And you expect to be mayor before her?”

“Psh! Heck no!” Galo laughs. “Eirini first, and then sometime, maybe me!”

Galo gasps, hit with a thought. “It’d be cool if I was her VP, though.”

“Yeah?”

Galo nods. “Yeah! But for now, I have to study a _buttload_ and then hopefully I can be one of the council members, and then Eirini’s VP, and _then_ the mayor.”

As Galo prattles on about his plan for the next decade, Lio looks at him fondly and feels a familiar feeling, a pleasant one this time, stir inside of him. It doesn’t take long for Galo to notice the look in Lio’s face.

“...What?”

“Hm?”

“You’re looking at me like that.”

“I always do.”

Galo rolls his eyes and nudges Lio. “Sap.”

“That’s my line.”

“No, but for real. What?”

Lio smiles, repositioning himself to lean against Galo on their couch. “Nothing, just. You are an idiot, Galo Thymos.”

Galo chuckles, knowing that it isn’t a jab. Not from Lio. Never from Lio. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” Lio nods. “We need more idiots like you.”

Galo smiles down at Lio, who now reaches up and lightly pats him on his cheek. “Keep talking about your big plan, love.”

“Okay, so, once I’m mayor, all of the debates and stuff are gonna be _fun._ Fun _and_ productive,” Galo continues. “And that’s where Lucia comes in with the Debate Smackdown Matoi-- name pending-- and--”

Galo continues talking about his hopes and dreams for the decade-- and beyond-- to come as the night sets in and until Lio is asleep in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- me, uploading stuff on here: for every happy fic, there must be a semi-angsty one. perfectly balanced, as everything should be.  
> \- "angsty" i say, as if the majority of this wasn't filled with jokes. but, uh (taps the humor to cope tag) more context on that on next chapter's notes.  
> \- this chapter was dialogue heavy, but next one isn't! expect it tomorrow.  
> \- i love referencing lio and remi's unjustified antagonism toward each other.  
> \- i have never watched suicide squad, and at this point, i still don't want to.  
> \- i'm working on another promare comic. hoooopefully it'll be up by sunday or monday? we'll see! enjoy this until then!


	2. ripples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (through tears) and the years keep coming and they don't stop coming

It isn’t until a week later when Galo broke the news to the squad.

As expected, they’re a bit confused and a bit heartbroken at the announcement, but they’re supportive. Remi and Varys offer to help him study, Aina offers to let him in on any intel she’s picked up, and Lucia agrees to make the Debate Smack Down Matoi. They plan to make a whole party out of it.

The same night, Galo tells Meis and Gueira about it when they came over for dinner. Galo was surprised when Meis had more of a reaction about it than Gueira. It forced Gueira and Lio to confess what had happened before they watched _Suicide Squad_ the week before. Gueira also admitted that he told Meis, but Meis added in saying that he didn’t expect for Galo to actually go through with it. They ask why, and when Galo told them what he said to Lio that night, they just nod.

It wasn’t until a few years later that Lio found out that they cried _a little bit_ over it after they left-- Gueira’s words. Meis admitted that they full on sobbed.

During the time as a law student, Galo kept his job at Burning Rescue, but more as a part-timer. He chatted with Eirini more often, who was more than happy to help him with his studies and even looked into an internship or something for him when the time came. Galo spent a lot of his time with his head in a book, doing his damn best not to doze off, and when he did, Lio was there to make sure he’d stay on track.

It wasn’t a surprise to literally anybody that they got married. It was kind of a surprise that they eloped, though.

Turns out that one night of intense studying and a spiral session was good enough incentive to take a study break and get married.

Galo’s graduation party a month later ended up also functioning as their wedding reenactment and reception. Meis and Gueira made sure it lived up to Galo and Lio's balls to the walls standards, so it wasn’t a surprise that it ended up being an absolute _rager._

Everyone at Burning Rescue gave small speeches about Galo-- generally about his catchphrases, his power points, and how he’d be missed at the station, but now he would get a new set of colleagues to subject his ramblings to and have it legitimately be a part of his job.

It wasn’t until later, when Lio was helping with clean up, when he saw a glance of Galo and Ignis talking in the corner of a room. Ignis reached to pat Galo on the shoulder, but it seemed like he decided that moment to go in for a hug instead and patted his back. Galo, of course, returned it, holding tight, before they both let go.

Lio decided to return to the room for clean up later.

Once Galo was finally in a government position, he learned quickly that the real work had just started.

It was a lot of late nights, a lot of paperwork, a lot of arguing-- and not enough brawling to balance it out. There were plenty of complaints about not having long breaks between shifts anymore, but it was quickly snuffed out by his declarations of his Burning Soul keeping his flame going.

Eventually, Galo was able to be a council member.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough to be Eirini’s second in command, but that was fine so long as he was on the floor supporting the proposals she offered that he agreed with whenever it was up for debate.

More time passed.

Eirini’s time as mayor came and went.

Some terms there were Pro-Burnish mayors, some terms there weren’t.

Nothing lasts for too long in Neo Promepolis.

Galo supposed he was thankful for it, whenever he saw acts that bordered on discriminatory against Burnish reach the floor get shuffled away. But he also wanted to make something that stayed. Something good. Something that would last his (hopefully) eventual term(s) as mayor.

Especially because he and Lio had kids now.

Whenever he tucked them away in bed-- having sometimes gone out of his way to make sure he would be able to do so-- Galo would go back to his bed, in his spot next to Lio and just lie there and think.

While he spent more time thinking, he was still characteristically himself whenever he argued on the council floor.

Galo was straightforward and honest. So much so that it left some council members’ heads spinning.

Once, one of the councilmen countered Galo’s proposal for more funding for Burnish housing and integration, arguing that it had been _"well over a decade since Parnassus"_ and that they _"should have integrated by now",_ finishing his argument saying that there _"wasn’t any room in the budget to fund it, anyway."_

It wasn’t officially a part of his argument, but the mic on Galo caught his mumbling during recess at how that statement was, _“Bogus."_ And then, _"Isn’t he like, mega rich? Has he seen that rice video explaining what a billion things look like? Like, I know_ I _don’t know how to count, but still-- doesn’t he have like, five empty mansions?”_

Galo lost the debate officially, but there was enough backlash against the opposing councilman that he was forced to approve the funding when the issue was brought up again after the public demanded for it to be discussed again.

Lio had made sure their kids were out of the house that night the grant went through to thank Galo _properly._

Something similar happened a few months later, when he agreed to go to their daughter's Career Day.

Thalia had already been interested in politics, so Lio graciously agreed to go Arie's Career Day instead, where he agreed to talk about his job as the service engineer and possibly second in command to Aina's captainacy-- something not yet official but he thought was a long time coming. Meanwhile, Galo was set to talk about what he did in the city council.

When Galo sat next to Thalia in the chair she pulled up next to her desk, she was showing him all of the stuff she had in it-- her notebooks, her papers, her textbooks, and all of the doodles she made on the metal part of her desk. She sheepishly promised to erase the doodles later without any prompting from Galo, but he said that he wanted to take pictures before she had to. While waiting for the bell to ring, Galo went through Thalia's social studies textbook and perused them. It wasn't exactly heavy reading, it was kind of a nice read compared to the textbooks he had to subject himself through for studying. But a couple of things caught his eye.

It was a sight to behold, seeing a grown man-- a _councilman_ \-- raise his hand in a fifth grade classroom.

It was even more of an event once Galo spoke, bewildering the students, their parents, the teacher, and even himself. The only person who wasn't thrown in for a complete loop was Thalia, who had more admiration for her pops after he pointed out how the textbook got the events of the Second World Blaze completely wrong, stating, _"I'd know. I was literally there."_

When the four of them went home later that day, Galo and Lio could not stop their children from their endless barrage of questions, _now_ suddenly interested in how they met, because apparently, it wasn't a mushy-gushy meet cute, but was something a bit more harrowing. Well. A _lot_ more harrowing, but they didn't need to know exactly how much. Not when they were going out for gelato. Also, not when they're still in elementary school. They agreed to not share the full story until they were high schoolers, at the very least.

The first wave of amendments to the textbook happened in about a year. It would take even more time for revisions past the elementary reading level to be completed, and it was a lot of input for Burning Rescue's part, on top of everything they already had to do. But it was necessary, and it was work that none of them minded doing.

Galo’s reputation had become well known among politicians and citizens alike.

Some people thought he was doing way too much, some people thought he was doing way too little. Others thought he was doing the most he could do. His name would get raked through the mud by some, put on a pedestal by others.

Galo was glad he stopped paying attention to the media _years_ ago when he and Lio had just started dating. He didn't think he could handle the emotional rollercoaster that was his relationship to the public.

It was a lot of hard work-- both logistically and emotionally. There were days when he wanted to just quit and go back to firefighting, and as tempting as the idea was, he knew that this was where he needed to be. He didn’t care what people thought of him, but part of him being able to keep his job and actually do things was for people to like him, or at least, the policies he supported.

Sometimes, he didn’t know what to do with himself, especially when he failed to defend the laws he felt that really mattered.

Eventually, he came to realize that his job wasn’t about what he could do _while_ in office. At least, not all of it. What mattered was what would last _after_ his time in office. He thought about what he wanted to stay, what he wanted his impact to be.

What kind of legacy he wanted to make for himself.

While watching Lio wash the dishes, Galo decided that he wanted to make sure that above everything else, Neo Promepolians would have each other’s backs, through spark and flame.

Just like what he had promised Lio.

Another election season had started, but with a significant difference.

To some, it was no surprise that Galo was up for running as mayor. To others, it felt like a long time coming.

Despite all of the campaigning, Galo didn’t get his win. He was upset, with Lio comforting him saying that he’d get the next one for sure.

And he did.

Unfortunately, Galo’s Debate Smack Down Matoi never made its debut on the council floor, but he did make it so that discussions were more straightforward and easier for the public to understand. He laid out all of his plans out in the open-- which was a double edge sword, considering that it was easier for his opponents to poke holes into, but it also allowed his supporters to understand him better.

Not every debate was won. At least, in terms of what passed, or what failed. But that was fine.

Every failure, every success, Galo made sure to remind the citizens what really mattered, at least what he thought mattered: their relationships with each other. That if an anti-Burnish law ever got passed or if a crisis were to ever occur, whether it was under his term or not, to make sure that they'd look out for each other. _"Nothing lasts forever,"_ he said once. _"But the bonds between people do."_

Some called Galo compassionate. Others called him a fool.

Galo was proud to be the city's Number One Idiot Mayor, either way.

Like all of the mayoral terms before him, Galo’s term as mayor came and went.

When he handed his position to the next mayor, he wondered if anything he did made a difference.

He figures that only time would tell.

It had been a few years since Galo’s term as mayor ended when he was able to see the effects of his time in the council and as mayor in action.

Galo supposed that stranger things have happened.

Nearly thirty years since the Promare disappeared, they had made their return.

When Lio reawakened to his flames, a blanket of fear he hadn’t felt in decades returned on his shoulders. The feeling of having to run and protect come back to him like a boomerang. For the most part, he was alright, knowing that he had Galo with him this time. That he wasn't alone. That he had someone with him.

It was a weekend, so Arie was with them when it happened. He didn't awaken. The same couldn't be said about Thalia, who was away for college and had accidentally fucked up her dinner by burning it twice-- once from leaving it on the pan for two long, and again when she awakened as a Burnish.

The effects weren’t as grand as the First World Blaze. At least, not in comparison. The awakenings were sudden, but not as large. Sparks of flame would come from their hands, at best. They acted like firecrackers, at worst. There were some injuries, but no casualties.

At this point, their children and every child in Neo Promepolis knew what Lio had gone through. What every Burnish had gone through. But they still didn't _live_ it.

To put it curtly, Lio was scared shitless for what was to come, thirty years of being without his Promare be damned.

When the current mayor, Nia Asfalis, had issued a message almost an hour after the first wave of awakenings occured, Lio held onto his husband tightly. 

_“Fellow Neo Promepolians, as your mayor, I am here to officially inform you that it is without a doubt that the Promare have made their return, and that some of us have awakened either as Burnish for the first time, or for the first time in three decades,”_ Mayor Asfalis starts. _“_ _Although it isn’t the first time this has happened in history, it is sudden, so please allow us time to create proper procedures on how we will carry through with this together. But in the meantime, do not forget that the Burnish, newly awakened and reawakened, are like us."_

The clicking of the cameras fill the air of the area outside of city hall as she continues to speak. _"They are our friends, families, neighbors. The Burnish are human. Let us not fall back in our history and cast them out again. We owe it to each other to get through this together. For now, please remember to not expose yourselves to stressful situations. Again, we will work on full proper procedures for the public to carry out. But until then, take care of yourselves. And each other.”_

Mayor Asfalis adjusts her papers, sets them down, then looks at the camera proudly. Galo knew that look anywhere. She was going to go off script. He squeezed Lio’s hand, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lio squeezed back.

_“In the words of former Mayor Fotia-Thymos, through spark and flame, we have each other’s backs. Thank you. Good night.”_

And just like that, air had returned to their lungs, blood had circulated back to their hands.

As they sit through the commentator recapping the brief speech, Galo and Lio stare off into the screen silently. Arie exits the room to continue the video chat with Thalia, giving their parents the space they needed.

“Are you okay?” Lio asks.

Galo chuckles. “I should be asking you that.”

“I’m okay,” Lio says. “Actually, after that, I feel more than okay. Like I just got back a part of me that was missing.”

“Isn’t that technically what happened?”

“Yes, but...” Lio pauses, resting his head on Galo’s shoulder. “I...”

Galo wraps an arm across Lio’s shoulders and kisses the top of his graying head. Lio lifts his head up and brings a hand to Galo’s face, running his thumb over the wrinkles forming around his eyes, and smiles.

“Thank you.”

Galo blinks at him. “For what?”

“For never breaking your promises,” Lio says. “For making something like this happen.”

“I didn’t bring the Promare back.”

Lio rolls his eyes fondly and pinches his husband’s cheek. “No, silly.”

Lio glances over to the TV, where it switches over to an interview with a citizen who reawakened as Burnish. _"It's weird having them back after so long... But I'm glad the mayor isn't gonna screw us over."_

Then, he looks over to Arie’s room, where they can hear his side of his conversation with Thalia faintly. "-- _why_ did you melt your cup ramen? It's styrofoam! Yeah-- it's _cool_ , but-- just. Do it on a kettle next time! _No, not right now!"_

“Thank you," Lio repeats. "For letting us be able to stay.”

“I didn’t do that, either,” Galo looks at the TV, where it was now showing clips of Varys leading a team of people comforting a group of recently awakened Burnish, switching to a line forming at the old Burning Rescue station, where they saw a glimpse of Aina giving out orders to her squad, and them giving her the same respect as they did for Ignis. Remi was somewhere in the line, probably taking notes as to who needed the most help. The video changed again, with Lucia on the screen, already having come up with an explanation as to why the Promare returned and how their fire wielding capabilities are _"good, actually,"_ and continued to prattle away about her ideas. Once that segment ended, the crew turned to Ignis, who was interviewed briefly about the whole situation, and asked to compare it to the previous world blazes.

“No, but you helped.”

Lio kisses Galo on the cheek before he excuses himself to go call Meis and Gueira.

“Huh,” Galo says. Now the TV is replaying the last bit of Mayor Asfalis’ speech.

_“Through spark and flame, we have each other’s backs.”_

“I guess I did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aha so some confessions to be made:
> 
> \- i only wrote this whenever i was sad  
> \- i was projecting HEAVILY on galo. about what? :'^) i'm keeping my secrets.  
> \- i WILL say that i am happy that even though i came into writing this sad, i ended it in a way that made me feel better, so! silver linings.
> 
> additional notes:  
> \- thalia and arie make a return even though this is a different universe for them lol. listen. they're MY ocs and i get to do what i want with them. and if that's slapping them in my future fics, then so be it!!  
> \- okay, so. i agree that lio would be a FANTASTIC leader for promepolis post movie but i ALSO think that GALO would be a really good leader. i like the idea that his blind optimism with his sense of observation and do first, think later would do _wonders_ in politics. and also is something we all need and could benefit from.  
> \- i know nothing about politics. didn't you know? my fics are either projection, self decadence, or both!  
> \- the comic may be delayed a week bc personal stuff happened, but I hope y'all enjoy this food while you wait 😔

**Author's Note:**

> I'm @https_aj on both [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/https_aj/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/https_aj). (Expect a whole lot of Promare stuff on Twitter, especially.)


End file.
